Not far from Albi, in Arthès (Tarn), an entire village came together to save a primary school class, threatened with closure. And the mobilization paid off.
Until the end, they wanted to be heard. Since the publication, on March 23, of the draft school map for the 2026 school year, the entire village of Arthès (Tarn) has mobilized to preserve a primary school class threatened with closure.
Under the windows of the Carcenac school, from 8 a.m. this Thursday, the usual calm before a day of school gives way to a new episode of mobilization. Around thirty parents of students, elected officials, education union representatives: all are there to express their disagreement, but above all their incomprehension before the final verdict, expected a few hours later in the evening.
“Total nonsense”
“There is a drop in numbers throughout France, it is a reality, and this will be the case for us in September, explains Mayor Jean-Marc Farré (SE) in the preamble. But we already know that for 2027 and 2028, this will increase in our country since our nursery classes are full.”
In Arthès, the Carcenac school currently has six classes, including four in double level, for a total of 128 students in the current school year, compared to 122 enrolled next September. “Closing a class for five or six fewer students is completely absurd,” denounces Xavier, father of a child in CM2 and twins in kindergarten, sign in hand. “We are based on a logic of figures completely disconnected from reality,” he continues.
“My son is in middle school, just in his class currently, there are 28,” explains Célia, a member of the hard core of the few parents who mobilized as soon as the threat of closure was announced, before being joined by many others. When this class ends up in CP, we will find ourselves with even larger numbers than today […] Five more students per class, for certain children in difficulty, that can make a very big difference.”
Also read:
DECRYPTION. School demographics: will your department have more or fewer students in 10 years? What the National Education projections say
To get the message across to the National Education services, the collective did not lack imagination. On April 9, for example, the first councilor and his deputies symbolically registered around twenty parents and grandparents in order to increase the numbers for the 2026 school year.
Happy ending
Or how to use all resources to preserve good educational conditions in a town that the mayor describes as “attractive”, not even ten kilometers from Albi. “For almost a decade, we have gained on average around fifty inhabitants,” confides Jean-Marc Farré, who would like to point out that the Carcenac school, opened at the end of the 1960s, has recently undergone major renovation work. Total amount of the operation: €1.3 million.
“Certainly, we have been well subsidized by the public authorities, but losing a class when we have inaugurated this new set at the start of the 2025 school year is hard,” insists the elected official, for whom the elimination of a position would constitute a bad signal when the municipality must now look into refreshing the kindergarten. “Some administrators wonder what’s the point if, at the same time, we lose positions,” he says, from a classroom.
These multiple cries from the heart ended up being heard since Thursday evening, after a new meeting of the Departmental Council of National Education (CDEN), it was decided not to eliminate positions in Arthès. “A relief and satisfaction for the future of our children,” concludes Célia.
Leave a Reply